SAN FRANCISCO, 8 August 2017, (BUSINESS WIRE)–XE.com, part of Euronet Worldwide, Inc., (NASDAQ: EEFT) one of the world’s largest global payments companies, today announced findings from its global payments report based on U.S. dollar transactions that shows when, where, and for what reasons U.S. residents transfer money around the world.

“Now is a great time to be in the global payments and currency transfer business,” said Simon Griffin, CEO, XE Money Transfer Division, one of the newest global payments entrants in the U.S. market. “While the business environment is opportune for companies in our sphere, expansion is not without its challenges. A rapidly growing customer base in a younger market, such as the U.S., means the service and the technology must keep up with the increasing demand.”

XE.com, which has an average of 23 million monthly unique web visitors and has seen its currency transfer app downloaded more than 58 million times, reported global currency transfer activity from November 2016 – May 2017, from the U.S. dollar to 60 currencies in 99 countries.

XE.com’s report shows that the most common purpose for global payments was for bills, which applies to any personal or business-related expenses. There were $30 million bill payment-related transactions during the seven-month period. The second most popular purpose of payment was living expenses, which totaled $26.6 million in transfers. Travel expenses, mortgage and rental payments, along with cash gifts, rounded out the top five.

Most of the transfers were to European countries, however it’s the U.S.’s neighbor to the north that took the number-one spot. Canada saw $5.6 million in transfers from USD in that period as compared to the U.K. ($4.3 million), Germany ($2.8 million), France ($1.7 million) and Spain ($1.2 million). In Asia – Thailand, Japan and the Philippines were all in the top 20.

Said Griffin: “Just given the number of transfers, in such a short time, as a new player in the market, we’re seeing the tremendous need among consumers for an alternative to traditional bank currency transfer offerings, which are synonymous with higher fees and slower service. It’s our mission to bring a first-rate experience to all our users and we’ve proven that we’re able to do that globally. We know it’ll be no different in the U.S.”

Currency Transfer Highlights:

Location, Location, Location: When combining all real estate related transactions (e.g., mortgage, rental, property purchases, etc.) there were more than $32 million in transfers. The most popular country – Spain

Somebody’s Getting Married: While not the most frequent purpose of international payment its worth noting that the grand total for wedding expenses was about $300,000. The most popular spot to get hitched – France

Better to Give than Receive: People sent a total of $5 million in gift money abroad. The beneficiary of most of that gift money – The U.K.

Knowledge Is Power – In the last two semesters, students transferred a total of $1.7 million for tuition payments. The most popular place to study abroad – Canada

About XE.com

XE.com, a part of the Euronet (NASDAQ:EEFT) family, serves more than 275 million unique visitors each year with a variety of tools and services including the XE Currency Converter, Currency Market Analysis, and the XE Currency App.

Peace Through Tourism

How Travel & Tourism Can Help Restore the Balance in the Emerging New World Order

"The travel & tourism buzzword of the 21st century will be the search for balance."

That forecast was made by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, in the monthly strategic intelligence publication of PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, way back in February 1999. Today, it is proving spot-on as the word "balance" resonates across all industry sectors.

Travel industry conferences seeking a speaker who can offer some unique historical hindsight, unconventional foresight and thought-provoking insight on how to rebuild and restore the balance in Asia Pacific travel & tourism can email Imtiaz Muqbil by clicking here.

There Can Be No Sustainability Without Spirituality

The New World Order will be dominated by a resurgence of spirituality.

Imtiaz Muqbil claims to be the world's only travel journalist to have visited the Holy Spots of all the major world religions -- Lumbhini, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Amritsar, Makkah, Madinah, Najaf and Karbala, as well as religious spots such as Angkor Wat, Bagan, Shwedagon Pagoda, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of The Tooth, Somnath Temple, Samarkand, Bukhara and many other great mosques, shrines, temples and cathedrals worldwide.

Sustainability, ecotourism and health & wellness travel have all become so 'yesterday'. Prepare for the new generation of travel in the New World Order and raise the bar of your next conference, management forum or seminar by hearing Imtiaz Muqbil's thoughts on this unmatched game- and life-changing experience.

==========

Secrets of Thailand's Tourism Success

Why the Amazing Kingdom is notching up record-breaking arrivals, and what challenges it faces next

The Thai tourism industry has become by far the Kingdom's most successful service sector, one of its leading job-creators and foreign exchange-earners. Behind this success lies a fascinating history of great branding campaigns, policy and regulatory changes, budgetary bunfights, strategic thinking and influence of Royal events.

But this success has now bred a new set of management challenges that may be more difficult to overcome.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has been monitoring the pulse of the Thai travel industry full-time since 1981. Industry conferences and management meetings wishing to benefit from a treasure trove of insights and hindsights on one of the world's great tourism success stories can drop an email here: imtiaz@travel-impact-newswire.com.

============

The Rise of the Whistle-Blowers

For 15 years (January 1997-July 2012), Imtiaz Muqbil penned a hard-hitting fortnightly column called “Soul-Searching” in the so-called “newspaper you can trust”. In July 2012, the column was gagged, with no explanation.

Over the years, four columns had explicitly forecast the rise of whistle-blowers -- a prediction now coming 100% true. Read the four columns by clicking on the links below.

Too Bad Your Ad Is Not in This Spot

Space available for unique ads that demonstrate commitment to helping physically-challenged people, building global peace, improving social and cultural cohesion, providing opportunities for the under-privileged, alleviating poverty and combatting global injustice & corruption.

If your product is not meeting any of the above goals, please advertise elsewhere.

===============

News Vs Noise

A Unique Course for Travel & Tourism Communicators In The Internet Era

By far the vast majority of media communications in the travel industry is boring, banal and bland. The same way it has been for the last 30 years.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has designed a special communications course to help upgrade both the context and the content of industry media material, and make it more interesting, readable and, most important, relevant.